Tarazet

May 26, 2004

"Cuddle With Caution"

...is the name of this KOMO TV story:


She tried to help a wild cat hanging around outside her home. "I just grabbed him and put him in the cat carrier... I noticed that I had a few wounds on both of my hands and I thought 'Well, that's a small price to pay for trying to make this cat's life better.' "

At first she felt OK. By 6 p.m., she had a bad headache and called her doctor for antibiotics.

By midnight her hands were bright red and the irritation was moving upward.

"I thought, 'Oh, it'll all be better by the morning,' " said Airdry.

But by 4 a.m., Airdry's husband rushed her to the hospital. "It occurred to me that I might die."

The bacteria infection from the cat bite was so severe doctors said she might lose her right hand.


Those who were reading Alphecca during the Winter know I went through something similar. According to this article, both cats and dogs (mostly outdoors ones) have a ton of bacteria in their mouths but because cats tend to bite strangers more, and their teeth are sharper, more incidents such as this happen with them.

Now, truth be told, two of my three cats came to me as strays and Rainbow did give me "Cat Scratch Disease" when she was a kitten. And I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from adopting lonely, lost animals. But caution is certainly the word of the day. Maybe gloves too.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at May 26, 2004 02:21 PM
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